Radio Free Ninjago and Equestria
Radio Free Ninjago and Equestria is the third episode of the ninth season of LEGO Ninjago & My Little Pony: Masters of Friendship and the 130th overall. It is based on the LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu episode Radio Free Ninjago and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episode, Friendship University. When Starlight Glimmer discovers there's another School of Friendship, she and Rarity go to investigate and are shocked to discover that Twilight's idol and Pillar of Old Equestria, Star Swirl the Bearded, is enrolled at the school. Persuaded by the Young Ninja, Lloyd must find his voice as he leads a small resistance to capture the airwaves in Ninjago City. Meanwhile in the First Realm, Iron Baron takes the Alicorns on a dragon hunt. Plot The Alicorn redemption Twilight, Cadance, and Luna continue their fight against the Dragon Hunters in Dead's End, as their magic has now been exposed with Cadance regaining her sanity in the process. Heavy Metal arrives with a powerful blade, which has Vengestone-like abilities as it attracts the princesses' magic to it. Heavy Metal manages to incapacitate the trio. Bringing the airwaves in school and everywhere In Ninjago City, Ultra Violet's TV show continues, with the Postman being her latest target. The Resistance starts building an armored vehicle that will help them retaliate against the Overlord. In a bid to improve Lloyd's leadership, Mistaké has Karlof battle Dareth, with Lloyd motivating Dareth as he's being overwhelmed. Mistaké tells Lloyd that as others inspire him, he'll inspire others, and tasks him with hacking Ninjago's airwaves and sending its people an influential message. At the School of Spinjitzu, the Young Ninja's classmates were worried about their teachers' absence. The Resistance came to the school and saw the students without the former teachers. Headmaster Lloyd tells the Young Ninja at the guidance counselor room, while the two students seek to the announcement room to make further announcements. The Young Ninja were shocked that the four professors were marooned to the First Realm, and Damien was shocked that the this realm is actually the Forbidden place, because the Oni lived there. Mistaké came aid to the Young Ninja that all those stories have been made up then. By the time it is the new school year starts, the Resistance gains further actions to their school. Just then, an announcement is heard about the Oni invasion, but Nya and Skylor caught the two red-handed. One of the student asked Skylor that the Oni might refer to the Overlord and Colossus. Lloyd comes in and tells what announcement was made, and another student told that they were the ones they were helping Lloyd to bring airwaves to Ninjago City and Equestria. Suggestive point, Nelson suggest to him to bring airwaves when the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Day. Another School of Friendship? Star Swirl the Bearded sends a postcard to Starlight Glimmer during his journey across Equestria. After Twilight taught him about the values of friendship, Star Swirl has spent much of his journey helping other ponies and engaging in friendly relationships. At the School of Friendship, after reading Star Swirl's postcard, Starlight expresses to Rarity that if Star Swirl truly wants to learn about friendship, he could enroll at her school. Cozy Glow enters Twilight's office with a mail delivery: a large stack of crates with sewing machines that Rarity plans to use for her friendship classes, and a stack of flyers. When Twilight looks at the flyers, she is shocked to discover that there is another School of Friendship located in Las Pegasus. Welcome to Friendship U As news about Friendship University circulates around the school, particularly its promise of teaching friendship in half the time as Twilight's school, Starlight and Rarity decide to investigate. Upon arriving in Las Pegasus, they find that Friendship University doesn't look like a typical educational institution and that it is run by the Flim Flam brothers. Through their signature style of song, Flim and Flam advertise that their university can teach ponies about friendship in half the time as the School of Friendship and use Starlight's presence in the audience as proof of its legitimacy. When they also mention that the school is about to be officially accredited, Chancellor Neighsay of the E.E.A. appears, much more accepting of Flim and Flam's school than Starlight's due to its pony-only environment. When Starlight casts suspicion on Flim and Flam's teaching skills because of their past actions, Neighsay accuses her of trying to undermine the competition and monopolize friendship lessons. As Flam oversees student enrollments, Flim and Neighsay give Starlight and Rarity a tour of the university. When Twilight continues to doubt Flim and Flam's true motives, Flim tries to convince her otherwise by revealing that Star Swirl the Bearded is enrolled at the university. Upon seeing Star Swirl enrolled as a student, Neighsay is fully convinced and gives Flim and Flam's school full E.E.A. accreditation. Starlight is heartbroken that her idol would enroll at Flim and Flam's friendship school instead of hers, but Star Swirl states he is simply following what Twilight taught him about friendship and giving the Flim Flam brothers a chance to change their ways, especially since they don't even charge money for classes. However, Starlight still firmly believes that Flim and Flam are up to something. The Hunters truth for Alicorns In the Realm of Oni and Dragons, Twilight, Cadance, and Luna are imprisoned in the Dieselnaut, where they speak with Iron Baron. Baron acknowledges his disdain for the First Spinjitzu Master, calling him a coward, and plans to use the alicorns as bait to catch a dragon. Celestia, Kai, Jay, Zane, Cole, and Wu remain disguised, and join Baron and his Hunters as they head off to capture a dragon. That night, the Hunters prepare to hunt for a dragon. Celestia, Kai, Jay, Zane, Cole, and Wu learn that Heavy Metal's blade came from a bone of the Firstbourne—the mother of all Dragons, who wields all the Elements and was responsible for the loss of Iron Baron's limbs. Shortly after, the Hunters spot a Dragon with the Element of Wind. A chase breaks out, with the dragon ultimately being detained; Celestia, Kai, Jay, Zane, Cole, and Wu briefly meet with the imprisoned princesses and vow to escape the realm and save the Dragons. Infiltrating the university In order to find out what Flim and Flam are truly up to, Rarity employs her investigative skills and knowledge of Shadow Spade novels to disguise herself and Starlight as university students—though Starlight's disguise consists only of an eye patch and a sticky note over her cutie mark. Starlight tells Rarity to enroll in some classes and find out what Flim and Flam are teaching while she looks around the rest of the school. In Flam's class, Rarity—going by the alias "Plainity"—discovers that fundamentals of friendship such as generosity are part of the lessons, and when she expertly demonstrates generosity for the class, Flam chooses her to be his star pupil. Meanwhile, Starlight sneaks into Flim and Flam's office to dig up dirt on the brothers. However, all she finds are lesson plans that are true to the core values of friendship, and she is unable to find any proof that Flim and Flam are scamming ponies. All of a sudden, Flim and Flam appear and catch Starlight in the act of trying to undermine their university, and they take a photograph of her doing so. Flim and Flam tell Starlight to stop investigating their school, or else they will leak the photograph to the press, destroy Starlight's reputation, and ensure that no one else enrolls at the School of Friendship. When Star Swirl appears with a completed stack of worksheets for Flim and Flam, he discovers what Starlight is doing and expresses his utter disappointment in her. Backed into a corner by Flim and Flam's blackmail, Starlight begrudgingly agrees to their terms. Flim and Flam's flimflam Rarity garners a considerable amount of popularity with the other university students in her "Plainity" persona. When Starlight regroups with her, she explains what happened in Flim and Flam's office and admits that she is a little jealous that Star Swirl enrolled at their school instead of hers. As she considers the possibility that Flim and Flam really have turned over a new leaf, Rarity decides to return the sewing machines she purchased so she can buy more worksheets from Flim and Flam. Starlight realizes that while Flim and Flam don't charge money for ponies to enroll at their school, they charge exorbitantly for the student worksheets. After watching Flim and Flam charge a student all the bits he has for their lesson worksheets, Starlight decides to risk her reputation for the sake of exposing the brothers' scam. She follows Flim and Flam to their office and sees them enter a secret room, where they funnel the money they got from their students into the expansion of their Las Pegasus resort. Starlight enters and exposes the brothers' true plans. Caught in their deception, Flim and Flam try to make a deal with Starlight—she keeps their plans secret, and they don't leak her incriminating photo to the press. Twilight refuses, saying her reputation isn't worth it if ponies are being taken advantage of. Pressed about their lesson plans, Flim and Flam reveal that they simply copied from Twilight's School of Friendship guidelines. When Starlight suggests returning the money to the students and teaching friendship lessons for real, Flim and Flam refuse and state they almost have enough money to realize their goal. However, Rarity and Star Swirl suddenly enter, and having overheard everything Flim and Flam just confessed, Star Swirl demands that they refund the students' money and close Friendship University. School's back in session As Flim and Flam return the money they collected from the university students, Star Swirl commends Starlight for once again being an upstanding example in friendship, including risking her reputation in order to stand up for what she believes in. When the students wonder how they are going to learn about friendship now, Star Swirl recommends that they enroll at Twilight's School of Friendship in Ponyville. Some time later, back at the school, Starlight reads another postcard from Star Swirl, who promises that if he ever decides to go back to school, Twilight's school will be his first choice. As Rarity wonders how Flim and Flam got a copy of Twilight's school guidelines in the first place, Cozy Glow enters and double-checks with Rarity about keeping the sewing machines she purchased. Rarity confirms, having learned from her experiences at Friendship University not to give up when standing up for one's beliefs. Lloyd's Important Message Back in Ninjago City, Lloyd, Skylor, Shade, Paleman, Neuro, Griffin Turner and the Young Ninja use their skills and powers to raid Borg Tower, from where they'll hack the airwaves. After Skylor's powers averted an encounter with the Overlord, the Elemental Masters arrive at Ultra Violet's set. They trap her crew and they started to broadcast Lloyd in an important speech. Before which, Karlof gets angered to the Young Ninja for celebrating New Year's Day. The clock almost reach midnight and the Resistance and the Young Ninja count down when it hits twelve. The clock hits midnight and the Young Ninja start to film Lloyd, who delivers a message to Ninjago and Equestria. Initially, he's overwhelmed with sorrow and despair, remembering his fight with the Overlord—but gains the courage to speak against him and rally the people of Ninjago and the creatures of Equestria, as their New Year's resolution. Harumi and the others burst into the room, finding that they've finished recording and escaped out the window, leaving Ultra Violet and her men tied up on the floor, and an image of Lloyd saying "The resistance never quits!" on loop. Harumi states that its time to take out the garbage as she watches the elemental masters escape. Cast *Audience Pony - Tabitha St. Germain *Arkade - Michael Donovan *Caralisa - Dewyn Dalton *Chew Toy - Scott McNeil *Child - Tabitha St. Germain *Cozy Glow - Sunni Westbrook *Cole - Kirby Morrow *Climbing Pony - Sam Vincent *Daddy No Legs - Ian James Corlett *Dareth - Alan Marriott *Damien - Cole Howard *Destitute Pony - Nick Wolfhard *Felix - Giles Panton *Fisherman - Brian Drummond *Flim - Sam Vincent *Flam - Scott McNeil *Friendship Schoolmate #1 - Riley Murdock *Friendship Schoolmate #2 - Shannon Chan-Kent *Friendship Schoolmate #3 - Nick Wolfhard *Friendship Schoolmate #4 - Scott McNeil *Gallus - Gavin Langelo *Harumi - Britt McKillip *Heavy Metal - Kathleen Barr *Iron Baron - Brian Drummond *Jay - Michael Adamthwaite *Jet Jack - Rhona Rees *Kai - Vincent Tong *Karlof - Scott McNeil *Killow - Garry Chalk *Kimberly - Shannon-Chan Kent *Nelson - David Reynolds *Lloyd - Sam Vincent *Luke Cunningham - Michael Adamthwaite *Misako - Kathleen Barr *Mistaké - Tabitha St. Germain *Neighsay - Maurice LaMarche *Neuro - Paul Dobson *Nya - Kelly Metzger *Ocellus - Dewyn Dalton *Paleman - Kirby Morrow *Passerby - Heather Doerksen *Princess Cadance - Britt McKillip *Princess Celestia - Nicole Oliver *Princess Luna - Tabitha St. Germain *Shade - Andrew Francis *Skylor - Heather Doerksen *Smolder - Shannon Chan-Kent *Starlight Glimmer - Kelly Sheridan *Star Swirl the Bearded - Chris Britton *Spinjitzu Student #1 - Kelly Metzger *Spinjitzu Student #2 - Tabitha St. Germain *The Overlord - Scott McNeil *Twilight Sparkle - Tara Strong *Ultra Violet - Maggie Blue O'Hara *Warrior - Andrew Francis *Wu - Madyx Whiteway *Zachary - Gavin Langelo *Zane - Brent Miller Song *Friendship U Transcript *Radio Free Ninjago and Equestria (transcript) Locations Visited *Ninjago **Ninjago City ***Garbage Depot ***School of Spinjitzu ***Borg Tower *Realm of Oni and Dragons **Dead's End ***The Pit *Equestria **Ponyville ***School of Friendship **Las Pegasus ***Friendship University **Manehattan **Cloudsdale **Canterlot **Yakyakistan **Griffonstone **Dragon Lands **Changeling Kingdom **Mount Aris ***Hippogriffa Differences between this episode, a Ninjago episode "Radio Free Ninjago" and MLP episode "Friendship University" *During the song Friendship U, all of Twilight's verses were taken by Starlight Glimmer. *Lloyd makes the speech to entire people and creature in Ninjago, Equestria and beyond. *Starlight Glimmer is absent in the original MLP episode. *Mistaké tells that the story about the Oni is a made up, this is later proved by Faith in "Two Lies, One Truth". Trivia *The episode’s title is a reference to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. *The Overlord has the ability to sense the presence of not just Wu, but also of Lloyd. *This episode takes place on New Year's Eve, which it takes place after the previous episode, which is Christmas/Hearth's Warming. When the clock strikes midnight, Lloyd's speech is heard as a New Year's resolution. **Unlike past seasons, the New Year celebration is a serious thing due to the Sons of the Overlord infiltrating Ninjago City and Equestria, similar to Christmas/Hearth's Warming. *This is the last time Chris "Doc" Wyatt & Kevin Burke write this episode until they return to write more episodes in Season 11. **This is also the last time The Hageman Brothers are working with Chris "Doc" Wyatt & Kevin Burke. *Cadance's breakdown from Episodes 128 and 129 has ended, and she is now back to normal once again. *Neuro can do Mind tricks, similar to how a Jedi does in the Star Wars series. *The Postman reappears in this episode, making his traditional cameo for another season. *Skylor can use her powers to fuse other Elements, creating the fusion Element, Shadow-Light. *Simon, Tommy, and Noble are confirmed to have been arrested by the Sons of the Overlord, as shown by several pictures. *Cozy Glow appears in this episode for the fourth time. *The fight against the Overlord still haunts Lloyd as it was the reason he lost his powers and the reason that the city is in shambles. *This is the only Flim Flam brothers episode to not feature Applejack, their rival. *Neighsay believes that the Friendship University can abide the E.E.A rules and has more pony-like environment, unlike Twilight's school. *This is the first episode since "Lost in Time" to feature Star Swirl the Bearded. *Ultra Violet's enactment of her catching the mailman resembles the skits from the arcade game PAC Man in which Ultra Violet resembles PAC Man and the mailman reassembles Blinky. To add to this, Ultra Violet grows in size after going off screen for the first time which is what happens to Pac Man too. *Iron Barons claims that a week's rations will be given to the Dragon Hunter who brings them to him in chains at the beginning of the episode may be a reference to the book "Animal Farm," where Napoleon claims that any animal who brings Snowball to justice will get a bushel of apples. *Much more like how the two students make announcement about the Oni invasion, Lloyd makes a misconception that the invasion is most likely to be the Oni Titan and the Overlord. **This foreshadows to the first invasion in "The Beginning of the End: The Darkness Comes". *Lloyd delivering speech to the creatures and the people of Ninjago and Equestria about how to put an end to the Overlord's reign and revealing the New Year's revolution is similar to The LEGO Movie where Wyldstyle gets her message out to everyone in the LEGO Universe to end Lord Business's reign and build whatever they can to defend themselves. *Tree Hugger, Night Glider and Double Diamond makes its cameo appearance in this episode. Errors *Chopper Maroon appears in 3 places at the same time; one with Ultra Violet at the Radio Station, another sitting at the bar at Laughy's, and a third next to Killow, although this one had different attire, and it's possible one was Nails. *When Lloyd says, “We‘re almost there. Come on,” his mouth doesn’t move. *When Lloyd finishes his speech, and Misako and Mistaké are looking at the TV, P.I.X.A.L's helmet is on backwards. Gallery Radio_free_Ninjago_and_Equestria_Title_Card.png|Title card